bg Sofia

Ministry of Agriculture and Foods

- Hristo Botev Street 55 -
In 1912, after a competition for an architectural project, the construction of the first public monumental building in the capital began for the Sofia District Palace. The winning design came from the Bulgarian architect . Due to a couple of wars that took place at the beginning of the 20th century, the building was only completed in 1927. Until 1944, the District Chamber of the Kingdom of Bulgaria was located here and all district services were gathered in this place. Since 1944, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry is housed in this building. During the in the , the rear of the building was hit by a direct hit but miraculously, the central facade and wings were not destroyed. After the end of the war, the building was completely restored.
The project of Nikola Lazarov
The elegant Neo-Baroque building is crowned with two towers and a dome in the central part. Both towers are identical and are decorated with garlands, decorative vases, and . A lot of decorative ornaments are placed around the clock in the top gable. A richly adorned is placed in the center of the segmental . The cornice with the same circular form as the garland above it contains distinctive ornamentation. Below the clock, you'll see two , which is a symbol of abundance.
An old photo showing the building
The third floor, just below the attic floor, contains a lot of different floral ornaments. The frieze on top of the second floor either contains a cartouche or a shield. The windows on the second floor are flanked by round shaped , which are crowned with an Ionic . The fragments above the windows are decorated with a surrounded by floral ornamentation and eight each. Above some of the windows, you can see a pointed and above some of the other windows on the second floor, you can see a broken pediment. Two richly decorated are supporting each of the balconies, which are secured with stone balustrades. Between the balconies, which are located on the circular part of the corner, you can see a medallion that is decorated with garlands. The of Bulgaria is attached to the central balcony.

A lavishly decorated floral cornice, which is placed between the first and the second floor, can be seen around the entire building. On every corner, you'll be able to see a broken open segmental pediment, which is embellished with a cartouche. While the pilasters at the main entrance are round, the ones on the corners are rectangular. Many of the , which are located on top of the circle top windows, contains a .
The building after the bombardment